Finding harmony in family, finance & military life

Brent and I reflected for a minute last night on our path and purpose. We can look back on the past ten years and see clearly the path we went down blindly then. Every step along the way made us stronger and more capable. We could not do the job God has laid out for us today without first having gone down that path. We made huge mistakes! Now those mistakes are the lessons learned we can share with others to keep them from walking down that same path and paying the price we had to pay. We treasure each couple we have sat down and talked to about money. It is not just money, it is life. All laid out it is a map of the past. Every debt, every bill, every want and every need tells the story of that family. We can look in their eyes and tell if they are truly ready to make the sacrifices and the changes to make the rest of their life better. Not easy and smooth sailing but better. They want to be ready for the storm when it hits, they want to be able to breath when the sun is shining. ...

Wow three days, three very busy days full of karate, church, housework and life in general. I woke up on Thursday with a kink in my back and neck that is just starting to loosen up and have been battling a migraine that left my world in a haze. We have pressed on though with our daily dose of family time filled with Bible reading and prayer. Killing giants, slaughter for a wife and unclean hands! Haha sounds like some warped thriller. Nope. We have been reading 1 Samuel 17 & 18 and Mark 7. We are really enjoying getting to know the not quite yet King David. He had no fear and complete faith that God would deliver Goliath into his hands. God had already proven His immense strength and capability in David's life. David had killed lions and bears with his bare hands! No man can do that without the strength of God. What other men ran away from David ran head on into. He was not going to let a giant live after hearing him mock God. He set the standard for how God's army should...

I just found out that you can get 6% cash back on the Groupon e-mealz deal if you buy it through mrrebates ! Just click on the link mrrebates to join then look up Groupon and go from there! These are some great deals guys!!

Right now you can get E-mealz for for only $29 which is 50% off the price for an entire year!!  Just go to Groupon  sign up for free then search in Birmingham for E-mealz . For me it pops up as soon as I hit the Featured Deals tab in my account. This is an awesome deal! We have loved our E-mealz  menus. The meals are simple and delicious, the shopping list is convenient. They have a large verity of menus to choose from that caters to every type of family. I mean it this is a great program and you can not beat this deal! Another great way to save some money is if you first join ebates! Once you have joined ebates join Groupon . Then shopping through ebates  search for Groupon (Birmingham city) and the E-mealz deal will pop up. You will get the great deal on E-mealz and get 3% cash back in your ebates account! BONUS!!! So go take advantage of this awesome deal today!!

We joined e-mealz last month and love it! Of course I have not been able to use it the past two weeks so I am printing out the menu plans and saving them for later. It is a great resource for moms who do not like menu planning. It is also a wonderful way to get new meal ideas and get you out of the same old thing every week rut. Go check it out! http://e-mealz.com/amember/go.php?r=258084&i=l0

I had to edit yesterdays post to pieces. Brent came home after I posted it with all sorts of new information. So here is the correct information in the edited post. Sorry for any inconvienience!! Just putting this out there for anyone who might be interested in doing a race this year! You can read about our K9 teams experience here :) Spartan Race Enthusiasts! SPARTAN COUPON CODE!!!! NCSPARTA013 If you are interested in participating in a Spartan Race going on in your area please use this coupon code to get $15 off your registration fee! If you need more information about the race you can check it out here ! Edit: Military gets an additional $10 off when they register. What are you waiting for? Get signed up today!!   If you have any questions please feel free to ask. Thank you

Just putting this out there for anyone who might be interested in doing a race this year! You can read about our K9 teams experience here :) Spartan Race Enthusiasts! SPARTAN COUPON CODE!!!! NCSPARTA013 If you are interested in participating in a Spartan Race going on in your area please use this coupon code to get $15 off your registration fee! If you need more information about the race you can check it out here ! Edit: Military gets an additional $10 off when they register. What are you waiting for? Get signed up today!!

I am sitting here trying to remember yesterday! I do remember reading the Bible I just can not recall the discussion we had afterwards. Ah yes now I remember bread and donkeys! We read 1 Samuel 16 when God tells Samuel to stop his mourning for Saul and anoint the new King. We got to meet David last night "A man after God's own heart" is how he is often described. A warrior, a musician, a prayer and a killer of giants. He feared nothing on this earth. He loved God! He also served under the man he was destined to replace as king. Questions covered by my crew. Why did Saul want to kill Samuel? Because he was evil, he was no longer with God he was tormented. They really have a hard time understanding that there are evil people in this world, people who will kill you for doing what it right. Why did David take a donkey and bread? Ha ha my answer well he had a long way to go and they did not have cars back then. David was a smaller guy so he could hop on that donkey and t...

A friend of mine just informed me there is a great deal going on at Food Lion! " Food Lion is doing the special coupons when you buy at least 4 and up to 40 of their brand of products. Right now their yogurt brand is .22 each and becomes a money maker in the end. Good deals to stock up on tuna, mustard, pot pie, and such." So grab your Food Lion ad it should have come in todays paper (News Argus) if you are local to Goldsboro and plan your trip!

Don't worry we haven't stopped! We are still right on track reading the Bible, discussing it and praying together every day as a family. We are still doing the Daniel Fast with some modifications here and there I am sure. On Sunday we tried Tahini Wild Rice Cakes  and loved them! Brent helped me make them and sprinkled some Old Bay seasoning on ours it was fabulous. On Monday we tried a tofu scramble. I will give you the recipe exactly how I shared it with a friend on Facebook. " I did "The Daniel Fast" recipe altered for my family. It was the extra firm tofu drained, dried and crumbled. You need a whole chopped onion (I used flakes) and three cloves garlic minced saute in 1-2 tsp/tbsp olive oil. I use the more. Just a co uple minutes till onion is done then add 1tsp curry 1/2 tsp turmeric 1/2 tsp cumin salt/pepper and a chopped up tomato plus the tofu. Cook for about five minutes till tofu is hot stirring frequently. Add a bunch of spinach let cook till spinac...

To sum up our family time tonight my Facebook status says it all: "  I think Brent and I had way to much fun reading the Bible to the kids. Acting out Jonathan and the armor bearer climbing a cliff and killing people. It was awesome ha ha. Brent read the devotion part and the prayer =D Saaaweeeeeet!! All the kids prayed tonight even Kady! She blessed all her bubbies (stuffed animals). It totally rocked! Spending time in the word as a family just kills the devil so if you want to be a demon slayer you totally gotta try it ;-)" Today was so much easier. My mind is clearer. I feel happy. We started the day talking to our three oldest kids about money. At our house work ethic is very important. We really want to impress upon them how important it is to work hard and earn money and we want them to know what to do with the money once they have it. We went over their individual job lists and how it is their responsibility to not only do the jobs but check them off on the ...

We survived what we have affectionately been calling "hell day" but you all likely just call it Friday! Fridays are the busiest day of the week for us next to Wednesdays. The time from picking up the kids from school to bedtime is always very full so finding time to work in our family time is a challenge. Wednesday and Friday are also supposed to be our liquid days on the Daniel Fast. Yesterday while it was much easier then Wednesday we also realized that we cannot go the complete day without eating, especially Brent. He goes to the gym in the morning and then has to do PT with his squadron later in the day. He needs food! Friday is also traditionally our date night. So we are altering the fast a bit. We had a small meal last night for our date night and from now on Brent will eat a lite lunch as well. We had our family time while the older three kids ate dinner after karate was over so at about 7:45pm. We read from 1 Samuel 13 where Saul does something only Samuel was supp...

Yesterday was so much better! I woke up in a much better mood, Brent was happy and the older three kids were back in school. We hit balance thank goodness. I was still struggling with some things but the prayers that were a struggle on Wednesday came much easier on Thursday. I also got to try a couple of new recipes and cooking even if it turns out terrible always puts me in a better mood.  First I made these Oatmeal Raisin Cookies . The kids loved them so success! As for Brent and I well the raisins definitely make them sweet so be sure to use a lot of raisins and we are still looking forward to an Oreo at some point in the future. Next I made a pizza crust  which I will get back to in a minute. Then I made unleavened bread using the recipe in "The Daniel Fast " book. I was enjoying myself! Ok unleavened bread is very oily, I mean very, very oily. It reminded me of the story about Elijah in the Bible when he goes to the Widow and asks for food 1 Kings 17. S...

Yesterday was tough. No it was more then tough it was hard. Oh forget it lets be honest I had a horrible attitude all day yesterday! It was not the attitude of prayer I had imagined yesterday would yield instead it was just the opposite. It was Sarah the crabby, angry, unhappy, flesh filled Sarah! Brent was not much better but I will leave Brent's attitude to Brent as I did nothing to help it. I could not think, concentration was impossible and every time I tried to pray I found my thoughts focused on yet another area of my own grumpy existence. What was wrong with me?! I do not think it had anything to do with the fact that yesterday was an all liquid day either because I was not even hungry the first couple hours of the day yet I let every little negative explode into something much bigger in my head. I did manage to accomplish my shopping trip with all five kids and got everything I set out to buy except dryer bars. They were completely sold out. Guess those coupon classes are...

Wow day three feels like day 20! I know my husband is feeling the affect of fasting far more then me as he is obviously tired and really craving meat. Tomorrow is the first day of all liquid and to be honest I find it a bit intimidating. We both prayed for help tonight as we continue in this fast. We have gone through the vegetables extremely fast and my complete lack of knowledge on just how the Daniel Fast works has us all tired of beans and rice!! So tonight I poured over a book  "The Daniel Fast" that a friend of mine thought to lend me and I was able to come up with a menu plan that will work for our family over the next two weeks. Tomorrow I will go shopping for the first 8 meals worth of food with all five kids. Oh dear, please pray for this mama I will need strength, patience and a keen mind considering I have yet to get lucky enough to find firm tofu at the commissary! Tonight we again read from the book of 1 Samuel chapter 11. The verse that stood out to ...

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Day two! I really miss cheese, a lot. It is worth it though, giving it up for just a little while to watch my family grow in God. Brent is missing meat but I heard him pray out loud today I will take that swap. I am concerned about how he will do as he returns to work. Working with a bunch of men food is bound to come up. I will be praying for him a lot over the next couple of days. We are eating hard boiled eggs this week for one to help us transition into the fast and for another because I had two dozen eggs that needed to be eaten! Oatmeal, vegetables, fruit, rice and beans round out our meals along with a lot and I mean a lot of water. We are satisfied. Today we read from the book of Mark chapter 4. I love reading the parables! Today what stood out is the story of sowing the seed and how the seed grows depending on where it lands and what is harvested as a result. It makes you think about what you are sowing into your own life and into the lives of others....

Last week Brent and I made the decision to join our church family in a 21 day fast. We needed to do this as a family. I knew it would not be easy but it would be beneficial. We need to focus more on time spent as a family in prayer, reading the Bible and getting closer to God. The week since making that decision has been extremely high stress, exhaustion filled and down right discouraging. Satan took up a stomping ground in my head and my home. It was the perfect example of just why our family needs to do what we are getting ready to do. Choosing the type of fast was easy. The Daniel Fast for Brent and I and a modified version for our five kids. I am not so hung up on what we can not have but what we will gain by doing this. I really hope that mindset pays off as we press forward. My biggest concern is my own endurance. I love to eat! Meat, cheese, ice cream, cake, sour cream oh yes to me it is all good so giving it up will take will power. Brent while concerned about what he can...

I am so excited!  I have the opportunity to teach a coupon and budgeting class for a friend of mine on Monday January 16th at her church and I will be talking to our local MOPS group about coupons on the 17th. I am sitting here going over the coupon topics, thinking about budgeting tips and adding coupon policy links for a handful of local stores to my Coupon Resource Page ! I also have three boxes full of an amazing giveaway for my class on the 16th!!!  If you are determined to change your future, to change your family tree, to change life as you know it get involved in a local Financial Peace University . Find a coupon class so you can learn how to save money while you shop! Commit to making a budget every month on paper, on purpose telling each and every dollar where it is going before it packs up and walks right out the door. Educate yourself about how to manage your money and get out of debt. If you are local then please come join me at Gateway Church January 16...